To Toddle or Not To Toddle

Hey All!

Greetings from Toronto, where fall has briefly brushed us past and winter is boldly bustling it's way in. Ughh, I am really trying hard to see the sudden drop in temperature as a wonderful thing - oh wait...yep, ok, winter boots. Good, there's a positive!

So I think a new thing is in play here with the 'monthly' blog. It is very apparent that our transition into parenthood has made blogging monthly not as convenient. So we are proposing to Blog quarterly - that would mean every three months, which in our world seems quite doable. There may be sooner posts, but as a general rule - a quarterly blog is the new norm.

Here are some highlights from he last three months:

*Amy gets out on the town for a Girl's day with Talia. New haircuts included!
(May I add this is the FIRST official outing for me in 9 months!)

*Thanksgiving!!!! Always a scrumptious time. We nearly had the God-Quad (which is four invites over the course of one weekend, something that only the Lord Himself could do, hence the name) but thankfully it was a wonderful duet. Our first dinner at Darrin and Daphne's with 40 other folk bustling around the table grabbing the next piece of pie. Our second was with Talia's family, a less populated dinner with still all the trimmings expected and a game of 'spoons' thrown in for added memories!

Dinner at Felini's

*First family road trip to Stratford. The last time we visited was our second anniversary and alone. This time we had a baby on board and may I just say, that we are some savvy parents. Baby monitors are great when: you can book your hotel, put your baby to sleep and slip out to the Italian Restaurant Felini's next door for dinner and still hear your baby in the hotel room! Brilliant! It was a sweet time as a family to experience our first little vacation.

*Kevin picks up some weekly work mowing lawns.

*Israel has taken on new territory - our baby is now emerging into Toddlerhood. She aptly crawls anywhere she  possibly can, however the latest addition is toddling around and walking with us while holding our hand. She has also gained a greater food repertoire and has a few favourites - bread, pasta and blueberries! That's our girl! Heavy on the carbs! Well, lets be honest, she loves any meat, and has a healthy love of most veggies - especially zucchini, tomato and mushroom. She has recently begun to shake her head, not for any particular reason other than discovering she can and she also likes to flick her tongue in and out like a very vocal warbling lizard! Occasionally she will give kisses, these are open mouthed, often similar to a fishes open gape. We are teaching her 'gentle', as the endearing smacks are getting quite boisterous, you just never know what you may get - a soft pincer to the nose or an energized smack to the eyebrow. All in all, our girl is beautiful and fun is every way. Life has become 'busier' as she puts full priority into moving as much as she can, but it gives us such perspective on how interesting life is and can be when seen through the eyes of an 11 month old.

Our Happy Baby Girl

In other news: After much prayerful consideration and wavering back in forth in true Friesen fashion, we have decided to start taking the steps at moving our family half way across the globe to live in Australia for a year. We have always wanted to be part of a church planting operation and when we heard one was taking place in Sydney, our ears pricked up. They've been pricked for some time, but the idea really solidified just recently. It will be an amazing opportunity to also give Kevin and Israel a true induction into their Aussie heritage. So this move will be taking place around April of 2013, all going well as we wait for Kevin's permanent resident visa to get approved. 

Stratford

We have felt so blessed these last few months with all that God has been doing in lives. We look forward to the future to see what else will unfold on this next adventure. We remain hopeful, trusting and humble, submitted to His plans and enjoying the moment of 'now.'

I'm sure that there will be a blog over Christmas...how could there not be!
So until then, we love you all dearly!

Kevin, Amy and Israel Friezowski